Brace for posts.



No 866,803. PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907,

LA. REYNOLDS.

BRAOE FOR POSTS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.19. 190a.

Swuentoz;

1% names THE NORRIS PETERS ca, WASHINGYON. u. s.

JAMES A. REYNOLDS, OF WATERLOO, NEBRASKA.

BRACE FOR POSTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Application filed September 19, 1906. Serial No- 335,298.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. REYNOLDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterloo, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Braces for Posts; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to braces for posts and its object is to provide a device of this character which is adapted to be connected to any style of post and which will brace the same and which when used upon fence posts will not project beyond the post and form an obstruction.

Another object is to provide a brace which can be easily set up and which does not require any special tools .for assembling the parts thereof.

The invention consists of a sleeve adapted to be socured around a post and having one or more lugs or stems projecting from it at an acute angle and adapted to extend into tubular braces. A flat plate is adapted to be embedded in the ground adjacent the post and this plate has a lug or stem which projects into the lower end of the tubular brace and therefore the brace will be held at both ends by the plate and sleeve respectively. This brace is adapted to be placed in the line of pressure and therefore if pulled upon, the post will cause the sleeve to press against the brace and will cause said brace in turn to press against the embedded plate. As this plate is immovable, it is of course obvious that said post will not sag when pressure is exerted thereon. Moreover, as the brace is arranged in the line of draft, the greater the pressure thereon, the greater will be the binding action of the ends of the brace upon the plate and the sleeve, respectively, and it therefore becomes unnecessary to use any form of securing means for fastening the brace to the plate and sleeve.

'The invention also consists of the further novel features of construction and combination of parts, the preferred form whereof will be hereinafter more clearly set forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown the preferred form of my invention.

In said drawingsFigure 1 is a perspective view of a fence post having my improved brace connected thereto. Fig. 2 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation showing the complete brace connected to a post. Fig. 3 is a detail View of the anchoring plate. Fig. 4 is an end View of the sleeve used upon corner posts of a fence, and, Fig. 5 is an end view of a modified form of sleeve.

Referring to the figures by numerals of reference, 1 is a post which may be of any desired contour and secured in any preferred manner to the upper portion of this post is a sleeve 2 having one or more lugs 3 depending at an angle from the outer face thereof. Each of those lugs is adapted to project into one end of a tubular bracing rod 4 while the other end is adapted to receive a stem 5 formed at the center of an anchoring plate 6 which is adapted to be embedded in the ground close to the post and in a plane at right angles to the tubular rod 4 when the same is in position between the plate and the sleeve as shown in Fig. 2. This bracing rod and its anchoring plate are adapted to be so located in connection with the post as to receive any strain or pressure which may be exerted upon the post.

If the braces are to be used upon the corner posts of a fence, the sleeve is preferably provided with two stems as shown in. Fig. 4 and two brace rods, said rods extending close to the fence as shown in Fig. 1. so that any pull exerted on them in securing the wires will be resisted by the braces located in the line of pressure.

The braces can be used on various styles and kinds of posts, such as telegraph poles, etc. and an extremely advantageous feature of the braces is that where they are used at the corners of fences, it is not neccssaiy to arrange the braces outside the fence where they would constitute an obstruction should the fence be located at the side of a highway.

The entire brace is adapted to be placed upon the market as an article of manufacture and the sleeves can either be cast as shown in Fig. 4 so as to fit styles of posts or they can be formed of split rings adapted to be clamped upon a post, as shown in Fig. 5.

What I claim is2- The combination with a post, a collar adapted to sur round said post adjacent the upper end thereof, a pin depending at an angle from said collar and a tubular brace rod adapted to receive the pin on said collar in one end thereof; of a pressure plate adapted to be disposed below the surface of the ground in line with an at right angles to them-ace rod, a pin in the center of said pressure plate, said pin extending into the free end of the tubular brace rod.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES A. REYNOLDS.

Witnesses:

H. B. WALDnoN, H. JONES. 

